Royal Rumble Two Planned Royal Rumble Returns

- As of this past week, the plan is for both John Cena and Sheamus to be surprise returns at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in January. One WWE source said with both of them returning on the same night, it seems doubtful that another big surprise like Jake “The Snake” Roberts would be factored into the 30-man match.

Legend

I'd bank on Punk. He's rumored to win it next year and between being in a hot feud with Paul Heyman and no doubt moving on to feuding with the HHH regime next (which means a WWE Title match against Orton at some point, probably), that guarantees that he'll be involved in hot programs from the time he returned in June to the Rumble next year, and a Rumble victory could be the ultimate thing to top it all off.

I doubt Cena will win it again because they already did this "make an unannounced surprise return at the Rumble and then win it" with Cena in 2008 and I don't see them repeating that exact same scenario again with the same guy. I can't see Sheamus winning it again either. I think the winner of the Rumble that's part of the road to the big 30th anniversary WM should be a fresh winner, not one of the previous two winners.

I personally think Cena should return before the Rumble and announce his entry into the match to build up anticipation that Cena could win it to start his comeback off strong. Unlike in '08 when people were surprised to see him come back so early, we all know how many months it'll be before he's cleared to return so the surprise return wouldn't be as effective as it was six years before.

I think it'd be awesome if the match came down to Punk and Cena. Imagine the crowd reaction for that kind of stand off. The commentators could play up their history and go on about how only one of them can win and go on to Wrestlemania, yadda yadda... And it ends with Punk tossing out Cena. Or it could also be interesting to replay the Cena/Batista '05 scenario where both guys hit the floor at the same time but then the match restarts and Punk gets the definite win then.

Legend

I seriously don't see Sheamus or Cena winning it. Whoever does will most likely cash in their title match for the World Heavyweight Championship since the WWE Title will still be the major prize in the power struggle between HHH and whoever HHH's power struggle ends up being against.

Sheamus has already won one Rumble and I don't see them giving him a second one considering the people who have been given two Rumble wins (or more...okay, only one person has more than two, but still...): Hogan, HBK, Stone Cold, and John Cena. Sheamus is not big enough to be in that group, especially considering the guys running around with one or fewer Rumble wins. As for Cena, it would be his third Rumble win (only Stone Cold has three and I don't really see them giving anybody else a third Rumble victory) and he would only be the third guy to win two in a row if he returned and won the 2014 Rumble (both HBK and Stone Cold won back-to-back Rumbles). Either way, I don't see either of these guys being a strong possibility to win the 2014 Rumble.

I have to second those who suggest Punk will win the 2014 Rumble. I can see Punk playing "second fiddle" to Bryan in fighting the HHH regime and chasing a "corporate champion" Damien Sandow for the WHC (which would both help Sandow by feuding with Punk and bring greater prestige to the WHC) while Bryan is taking on the "corporate WWE Champion" or "corporate WWE Championship No. 1 Contender" at that point (or maybe even HHH himself) in the Mania main event. The other strong possibilities I see winning the Rumble are Dolph Ziggler or Cody Rhodes.

Legend

Are people really worried that Cena or Sheamus will win it? I say there is no chance of it happening. Bryan is the odds on favorite obviously, with Punk having the 2nd best shot.

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I think Bryan and Punk hitting the floor at the same time and both being declared the winner, ala Luger and Bret exactly 20 years before, would be an awesome ending.

If the WWE Title match at Mania ended up being either Orton/Punk/Bryan or Cena/Punk/Bryan, then this ending could work. For the former, just give both Bryan and Punk the shot at Orton. I can't see the latter happening since it would mean Cena would be champion, which would suck as it means he was the one to dethrone Orton (probably at the Rumble PPV itself), but that might be a little more forgivable if you consider that Bryan could win the belt for at least a couple of months this year before being screwed out of the title and having it switched back to Orton by the time 2014 rolls around.

But ultimately, I can't see Bryan winning as Bryan/HHH seems locked in for next year unless it happens a lot earlier (i.e Survivor Series) than any of us expect it to. But I don't see that happening.

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